Targeting Poverty: Aim at a Bull’s Eye

Publication Date: August 2006

Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy

Author(s): Jodie Levin-Epstein; Webb Lyons

Research Area: Social conditions

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Forty years after the war on poverty and a year after Katrina struck, commitments to tackle poverty are beginning to come back onto political and policy agendas. The report identifies efforts around the nation to set poverty targets -- numerical goals and timelines -- for the reduction or elimination of poverty. For example: In California, a 2006 bill calls for child poverty to be eliminated by 2026; in Connecticut, state law already establishes that child poverty is to be reduced by 50 percent by 2014. Among the reasons why poverty may be gaining attention is the increasing concern among many Americans that at some point they and their families may experience poverty. These and other issues are explored.